Croatian start-up Greyp is advancing its work on enabling automated vehicle payments under partnerships with blockchain groups.

The firm’s work will enable fully automated payments that can be used to pay tolls, rent electric vehicles and charge them

The company – which specialises in mobility technology and e-bike manufacture – has partnered with two blockchain groups: slock.it, an IoT company connecting physical devices to the blockchain, and the Energy Web Foundation (EWF), a non-profit organisation applying blockchain in the energy sector, to bring connected mobility applications to users.

Through this new partnership, vehicles are connected to blockchain technology, whereby devices can securely sign and verify information and transactions without any intermediaries. The plan is to create an integrated network that can support an array of interoperable, sustainable, smart mobility options

Greyp will initially focus with its partners on the specific use cases of machine-to-machine (M2M) value transfer, which allows vehicles to pay for tolls and charging, and vehicle access management that facilitates rentals, including with cryptocurrency. Greyp is also looking to expand into other markets, including the UK.

In particular, the work will enable future rental and sharing opportunities in line with the move to mobility. Greyp has tested various proof of concepts, from the ability for vehicles – without any services – being able to verify that the user has access through to automated machine to machine payments.

The firm’s connected mobility work follows its partnership with T-Mobile whose eSIM technology powers connectivity for its Greyp G6 bike.

“We envision a network where every vehicle has a digital ‘wallet’ enabling autonomous machines to receive and create payments, both to humans and to other machines,” said Greyp COO, Kresimir Hlede. “This is a big step forward toward realising our vision for a sustainable, connected future. We are excited to be working with slock.it and the Energy Web Foundation to achieve this.”